Status report of the EPA`s Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division`s biomass-to-energy development and demonstration projects

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:478708

Purvis, C R ^[1]; Cleland, J ^[2]; Craig, J D ^[3]

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1. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States)
2. Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States)
3. Cratech, Inc., Tahoka, TX (United States); and others

The US Environmental Protection Agency`s (EPA`s) Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division (APPCD) is participating in research, development, and demonstration projects that will convert biomass energy to electrical power, resulting in waste utilization, pollution alleviation, and energy conservation. The goal is to demonstrate the technical, economic, and environmental feasibility of an innovative energy conversion technology. This paper describes the status of each project. The first project is a demonstration of a design that consists of a fixed-bed gasifier, a gas cleaning system, a spark ignited syngas engine, and a diesel dual fuel engine. The technology will use wood waste as fuel and produce approximately 1 MWe. The design of the technology is complete, equipment fabrication is underway, and installation, start-up, testing, and demonstration will follow by September 1996. The second project is a biomass-fueled intergrated-gasifier gas turbine (BIGGT) power plant. Phase 1 is complete and consisted of the design, fabrication, and operation of a 0.5 metric ton per hour (tph) (0.55 tph) pressurized fluidized-bed gasifier with a slipstream hot gas cleanup system. Phase 2 is to increase the feed rate to 1 metric tph (1.1 tph) and uprate the gasifier to operate at 10 atmospheres (981 kPa) with a full scale, dry, hot gas cleanup system capable of being integrated with a 1 MWe rated gas turbine engine. Construction of Phase 2 will begin in the summer of 1996. The third project is a demonstration of a biomass-fueled power plant. The system operates with an open Brayton cycle using a fluidized-bed combustor and heat exchangers to heat compressed air and drive a turbine/generator set. The system discharges clean hot air which can be used for cogeneration applications. The system will use lumber wastes as fuel and will produce approximately 200 kWe. Fabrication is underway, and the demonstration is scheduled to accumulate 8000 hours of operation over 1 to 2 years.

• OSTI ID: 478708
• Report Number(s): CONF-960958--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
BIOMASS
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
DUAL-FUEL ENGINES
GAS TURBINES
GASIFICATION
REFUSE-FUELED POWER PLANTS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SYNGAS PROCESS
US EPA
WOOD WASTES